The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1887-02-03
VICTOR HUGO.
New Stories of His vigor aud His Remark.
able Eyesight-His Tenacious
Memory.

tional edition of Victor Hugo's COM
piete works. NJ. Emile Testard. has Just
issued the first part of the Life" of the
poet, written by the brilliant Partisan
litterateur. NJ. Louis Ulbach, writes
Paris correspondent of the New York
HIt and Express. This portion of the
work is devoted to the youth of Victor
Hugo. and contains many fresh anec-
dOte5 and descriptions. Victor Hugo
had remarkably tenacious memory.
He could always turn to a verse or even
Il word that he wished to find in the
vast ocean of his writings. When or
10 years old he went to Spain, ana the
impression made upon his boyish mind
by the Moresque architecture and the
'ther remains of the Arabian domina-
ton were never eff ced. Many years
later. when he produced his Orient
ales, tine critics wondered how this
poet could have caught the spirit OF a
land and people that he had not seen.
''lt is a singular fact, says NJ Uibach,
that this efsy-chair orlentallst, who
had never breathed in the odor OF the
rose on the stem, but had only wan
dered among the walls impregnated
with is scent, that this traveller from
the Spanish orient had imbibed the
local color more thoroughly than the
poets who had journeyed through the
east. Chateaubriand, Lamartine,
Iheophite Gautier, and others still,
have brought back with them charm
ing narrations that add, however, moth
ing to their genius or talent. Victor
Hugo's verses, on the contrary, inspire
YOU with oriental scenes, and vet they
are only echoes still ringing in his
mimi from that one far-otf sojourn in
Spain"
Hugo had not only strong, healthy in
tellect, but also a sound body. Toward
the end OF his life he grew deaf, so that
it became real infirmity. But other
wise he preserved ali his faculties, ply
sical and mental, up to his last illness.
NJ UIbach records several examples of
Victor Hugo's bodily vigor. When
writing 'Notre Dame of Paris he used
often to 60 twice day up to the top of
the tower. In the evening he was gen.
orally accompanied by friends.
"On one OF these occasions" writes
NJ. Uibach, Victor Hugo was gazing
with delight at the purple hues of the
setting sun, turning MS piercing little
eyes in the direction of the Arsenal
library, which is a long distance off
4 see Charles Modier on his bacony,'
he remarked carelessly to his friends;
'he isn't alone, there are two ladies
with hIm-one of them is his daughter,
but the other [ do not know. Not with
standing their respect for the poet. and
their knowledge of his wonderful visual
powers, the little group INDUCED in an
inCredulous smile. But when. an hour
later, they called on Modier, they were
astonished to find that Victor Hugo's
eyes had deceived neither them nor
him. | once asked the poet if this story
was truG, and he told me that It was,
and substantiated it with this one:
When in college he used to attend lect-
ures on physics in the medical school.
One day the professor wished to try
some experiment i'll optics, and invited
the students TO 60 with him 10 the roof
OF the building, where he set up tele-
scope turned in the direction of the
Garden OF Plants. He then asked the
young men TO read a-distant sign which
seemed undecipherab to the naked
eye. Victor Hugo happened 10 be the
first who was called upon. Il do not
need the aid OF the telescope he said
4 can make out the sign. 1t read:
ChuHtjer d" CdrdiHGi-LCiHojHc'"
In fact his excellent eyesight stood
him instead when he began to grow
deaf. He SAW Sc well, says our bio
grapher, "that he seemed to hear every
thing, and when he ;okod that Il phrase
be repeated II was more to make sure
that he had guessed correctly than 10
satisfy he demands of his deaf ear A
few months before his death | was din
ing with him and was giving an account
or my last visit 10 Spain. / went so far
as to admit a liking for bul fights,
whereupon Mime Lockroy said to me in
low voice: 1t is fortunate father
doesn't hear you, for he detests that
cruel sport. Pray don't say anything
more on that subject So [ took up
another topic. But my host gave me
such searching look that | felt that |
was discovered.
:" 4 didn't.seize the whole sentence.
remarked the poet; you said that you
liked?
Il yentured to prevaricate.
L
mian dance
No, no, interrupted Victor sh aking
his head, while a smile spread over his
face; you said that you liked bull
fights. "
But enough on the text of this fas-
cinating volume. Now few words on
the rich illustrations that are scattered
through it. There are three portraits of
Victor Hugo-one by NJ. Adrien Didier,
the well-known French engraver, cop
iei from ii photograph made by Charles
Hugo, the father of George and Jeanne,
NJ jersey in 1898. The face is clean
shaven, and the dark hair falls in heavy
locks on either side, hiding the ears.
The cOlOred portrait, after Dangers
original water DIOR, is the Victor Hugo
rs we knew him, with his short, white
hair, his stubby. frosty beard, and his
four-score years. The third is the poet
on his death-b bed. drawn by the painter
Edmund Dupain. The volume also con-
tains an engraving of the superb cata-
falque designed by the famous architect
Charles GARNER and placed under the
Arc de IrlOmphe on the occasion of the
poets funeral; and one of the pictur-
esque house, Rue Notre Dame des
Champs, which Victor Hugo inhabited
at the time OF his marriage. But per-
haps the most interesting, if not the
most artistic. illustrations are two wood
cuts by Meauile from original sketches
by Victor Hugo himself, who. YOU will
remember, was almost as clever with
the pencil as he was famous with the
pen. Iclose this incomplete enumera-
ton by mentioning the fac-simile of one
of Victor Hugo's letters. which is cur
ious as a specimen of his sturdy goose
quill chirography, and also because it
refers to the elder Dumas in one of his
tits of bad humor.
Snobson-"Did you wead this in the
papaw about Btinks, ole fellawp" Cad
leY-"Blinks? That yuIgaw cweechawI
Nav" S.-"But it says his father
died" C.-.'Haw" S.-"Left him a
not of dollauSi'' C-Havf of, Pl;, H.